We have fixed how SoundCloud (and just about everything else) is embedded. Which is code for everything will be broken unless you use the "media" tag to insert them. Use the rich text editor and media button, paste link and MAGIC HAPPENS. Steal the code for you non-rich WYSIWYG editor users.

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Download the Space Tactical Combat Demo - Alpha 0.3http://purpleorangegames.com/StarLifeTacticalSpaceCombatAlpha.7zScanner is in the demo, but you will be able to test it better in the next version, sorry about the great delay, I had to redo most of the code, I'm still clearing up some things and learning more about Finite State Machines so a lot of prototyping is happening right now.

Other than that... It's there, needs to be fleshed out. There's almost nothing to give feedback on.

Make the turn end automatically if you've got no move/attack left.

Brofist for you for doing this though, I thought it was vapourware for sure. Still haven't proven me wrong, tho.

Click to expand...

Thanks!
The game itself will be optimized for 800x600, but this version is wider since it has the editor integrated.
It will be fixed in the final release or I may come up with another solution for the editor to not occupy so much space. Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking about the turn ending automatically, but I kind of didn't like it on some games, I will definitely add it as an option that you can activate or deactivate.

Well I don't really worry if people thinks it's vapourware, I'm know I'm gonna do it anyway,

Yes, C++ but I'm using the Qt framework (http://qt.nokia.com)
The main reason is that I can compile it for windows, linux and mac osx.
The second reason is that they are developing a really easy to use UI framework called Qt Quick that uses their QML script language and it communicates really well with the Qt framework. Qt Quick is mainly to be used for cellphones and tablets so it means it's made to be light.
So all the main functions reside in C++ while the QML has all the UI interface and animations.

I'm pretty sure I posted this in the Workshop already, but Daniel Cook (Tyrian artist) has released most of the sprites from Tyrian as well as sprites, tiles etc. from Hard Vacuum and Iron Plague for free. All of the art has a Tyrian vibe to it, it has a very coherent visual style, and it contains pretty much everything one might need for a game about spaceships.

I'm pretty sure I posted this in the Workshop already, but Daniel Cook (Tyrian artist) has released most of the sprites from Tyrian as well as sprites, tiles etc. from Hard Vacuum and Iron Plague for free. All of the art has a Tyrian vibe to it, it has a very coherent visual style, and it contains pretty much everything one might need for a game about spaceships.

Culture and PopulationPopulation grow will be slow at the start of the game, I'm planning on developing a system where aliens will want to live in your planet and your population will want to live on alien planets.Like Culture in Civilization and GalCiv. But more aggressive to the point where when well executed it will happen a lot faster and at the same time there will be better options to counter-attack this behavior.

My enemies' enemy is my friendIf you attack an opponent for example, everyone else who hates this opponent will have their relationship with you improved.When the two of you are at war your relationship will improve steadily but slowly and when at peace it will grow fast at the begging and stagnate at some point.The point here is that if you want an ally, attacking it's enemy may be a wise strategy, or if you are at war with someone you want peace, attacking it's weaker enemy might help you to sign the treaty.

Casus BelliWhen I saw it playing Victoria II it simply blew my mind. With this system you couldn't anymore just attack every country in the world and expect everyone to just play nice.I found it very interesting to choose different goals before going to war, to have different outcomes when winning or losing other than game over for you or game over for your opponent.Still I think it was quite constraining to my taste but it's something I want to work on definitely.

Researching is just one of manyIn MoO2 we could research a technology, steal a technology by using a spy, invading a planet or scrapping a ship or trade/demand a technology using diplomacy.To research you have to rely on yourself, any other options you depend on your opponent and lots of luck.I want to change it a little, stealing technology won't be a check with a success/failure outcome anymore, if you have spies stealing technology you will have a bar showing how much you have stolen, if you stop the bar will continue there, if you start researching that technology the bar will continue from where it was.So any method will contribute to the same goal, you won't get a technology just magic in MoO2 and neither you will lose centuries of turns trying to steal a technology without success.Stealing a ship or conquering a planet will have a bigger impact on what technologies you will find, but the player must actively instruct the researchers to spend time inspecting the ship/planet, so taking the ship or planet back is another strategy option available.

Buildings and ShipsOften we see in games the option to build, be it buildings or ships where a colony can produce one at a time.I want to make a different queue where everything you put into it starts building and your resources are divided among all of them. You can and should change priority into what you want first or which ones should be produced first.It will come in handy if you often change plans, so you can change priority and the building you had already started won't lose what was already built and you can resume it later from where you left off.Another bonus is when you want to produce ten ships on one planet, if you produce one at a time and you want to attack with all of them, then you lose lots to maintenance costs since the ships already built will have to wait for the last ship to be built so you can start the attack. With this type of queue you can start producing those ten ships and they will finish at the same time, but will still require the same amount of time as the previous method.But if you want to produce ships to defend a possible invasion you can just set it to produce one at a time.

Focus on buildingIf you can set an entire world to produce one building, why can't you set an entire empire to build one building too? Colonies will have the option to support other colonies.For example, colony A is producing a ship that will require a lot of time to finish, then you can set colony B and C to support colony A so it will finish earlier.

Outposts of different flavorsOn MoO2 you can build outposts but they are very limited, they serve to expand your ship range or to occupy a planet so another civilization won't colonize it.I'm planning to have several types of outposts, instead of going crazy and colonizing every possible planet on the galaxy, you will probably want to spread several outposts and have fewer colonies, at least at the start of the game. Because if I imagine a race that just started spacefaring, it wouldn't be able to afford more than one or two colonies, everything else would have to be an outpost.You would have then a Mining Outpost, Research Outpost, Military Outpost and Civilian Outpost. Being the last an outpost that could develop into an colony later.

Civilians play a big partThere was a game I played that civilians played a big part, without them the empire would fall. I plan to divide your empire into you and your civilians, so they will have their own independent research, can build their own ships and will build their own buildings on your colonies. This will require a hell of an IA, but that's what makes me more interested in the game development!

2. ACTUALLY START THE DAMN GAMEWriting your idea down is not starting the damn game. Writing a design document is not starting the damn game. Assembling a team is not starting the damn game. Even doing graphics or music is not starting the damn game. It’s easy to confuse “preparing to start the damn game” with “starting the damn game”. Just remember: a damn game can be played, and if you have not created something that can be played, it’s not a damn game!

So dammit, even creating a game engine is not necessarily starting the damn game. Which brings me to the next tip…